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Blog Archives: November 2015

Who is Jesus? This is a question that always comes up around Christmas and Easter. So, with one of those holidays rapidly approaching us, we can expect to hear all kinds of different answers. He is a myth. He was a good man. Or, as Christians throughout history have confessed, He is God in flesh. As we have looked at the Chalcedonian Creed together over the past few weeks, we have had a chance to review a classic Christian answer to the question of who Jesus is. Jesus is fully God and fully man.
When considering what it means for Jesus to ...

Word of the Week: Eucharist
This past Sunday we celebrated the Lord’s Supper. This celebration is also known as communion. Maybe you’ve heard it called by another name–eucharist (pronounced yoo-kuh-rist). This is a word brought into English from Greek. The word eucharisteo means “I give thanks.”
Before Jesus gave the bread and cup to His disciples, He gave thanks. Then He did in real life what the bread and cup symbolized. His body was broken on the cross and His blood was poured out for us. Now it is we who give thanks. As we sit down ...

Where was Jesus before the first Christmas? Does it matter? How did He “pre-exist” before He was humbly born in a stable rude? Is this a life-altering truth I should concern myself with today? Does it matter to you and me that He is God and has done what only God can do? If so, then there follow four good reasons why we should cling to the phrase “before the ages begotten of the Father as to the Godhead” found in the Chalcedonian Creed (pronounced kal-suh-doe-nee-un). The best examples of this are found in the gospel of John. Jesus states it ...

Word of the Week: Doctrine
According to the dictionary, doctrine is “something that is taught.” Doctrine can be an unpopular word in some circles, especially those who believe “No creed but Christ, no book but the Bible.” (Some of you might say, Amen!) Of course, each of those words has a doctrinal component. Each of them teaches an idea that purports to be the correct one. I had some great doctrinal questions emerge in the weekend Discover Grace class. And Tag Tuck is diving into some of our more complex doctrinal issues in our ...

We, then, following the holy Fathers, all with one consent, teach men to confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in Godhead and also perfect in manhood; truly God and truly man, of a reasonable [rational] soul and body; consubstantial [co-essential] with the Father according to the Godhead, and consubstantial with us according to the Manhood; in all things like unto us, without sin; begotten before all ages of the Father according to the Godhead, and in these latter days, for us and for our salvation, born of the ...

Word of the Week: Visitors
I don’t know what is going on, but we are having more visitors than ever lately! We are so thankful for them, of course! Can we keep our eyes open for them? They are a varied bunch! Younger and older, married and single, with kids and without.
A pastor pointed out this past weekend at our Presbytery meeting that the word “hospitality” in the Bible literally means “love of strangers”. Let’s keep up loving the strangers among us, for the purpose of helping them engage our process of discipleship through ...

A few months ago I wrote about community and specifically about the opportunity to grow in community on our annual women’s beach retreat. A few weeks ago we were able to go on this retreat and this is a brief synopsis of what it looked like and what we learned from sharing space and time with each other for a weekend.
Over the course of this weekend we were able to learn several things about one another and about God, in His infinite glory and grace.
Leigh Ellen Rodriguez shared about how God has been teaching her and her husband, through ...

Word of the Week: New
New is a beautiful word. New car: smells good, runs well, and is fun to drive. It doesn’t rattle and shake like the old car did. New house: like a new car, only bigger and costlier. It is nice and clean and requires few repairs. New job: hopes, dreams, better benefits (maybe), easier boss (we hope). New is an adjective that immediately makes something seem better (with some exceptions).
New believer - now that is something exciting! I’ve been blessed lately by talking to several of you who are new believers in ...